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ORIENTAL WHITE STORK REINTRODUCTION IN JAPAN

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asahi.com > ENGLISH > Nation

Cover Story: Open skies

09/21/2005

http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200509210351.html

By DAISUKE FURUTA and TEI SHIMIZU

 

The Asahi Shimbun

 

 

An Oriental white stork takes flight in a test release on Sept. 8.

 

TOYOOKA, Hyogo Prefecture--The graceful flight of Oriental white storks will

soon be seen in the open skies here once again.

 

On Saturday, five of the magnificent birds are set to be released. The event is

part of a program to return storks to the wild for the first time since their

domestic extinction 34 years ago.

 

But experts warn the birds may face a tough time.

 

The five storks, born between 1998 and 2003, are among 118 storks currently

being raised at the Hyogo Prefectural Homeland for the Oriental White Stork in

Toyooka city.

 

The storks measure more than 1 meter in length and weigh up to 5 kilograms.

Storks from Russia and China were used for the breeding program.

 

Only 2,000 wild storks are left worldwide. Most breed in the Russian and Chinese

Far East, and spend their winters south along the Yangtze River and elsewhere.

 

Wild storks that are occasionally spotted in Japan are strays from the Asian

continent. The last domestic wild stork died in protective captivity in 1971.

 

The attempt is the culmination of almost a half-century of protection and

breeding efforts at the Toyooka park.

 

" The whole community here has done its best so (the storks) can co-exist (with

people), " said Hiroshi Ikeda, director of the stork facility's research section.

" I believe we are moving in the right direction. "

 

The prefecture, the city, other municipalities and individual citizens have

worked to make the local environment suitable for storks.

 

Wetlands and dried-out streams have been revived for the storks to feed on fish

and other aquatic animals. Many farmers have reduced or eliminated the use of

agricultural chemicals in their rice paddies.

 

The area was home to about 100 Oriental white storks up until 1930 or so. But

logging, farm chemicals and urban development cut into that number. By 1955, a

movement to protect the birds was afoot, and in 1956 the central government

designated them a special natural treasure.

 

The Toyooka park started trying to breed a pair of storks in 1965, but their

efforts were in vain, and the last wild stork died in 1971.

 

The first successful breeding came almost 30 years later, in 1989, with a pair

of birds donated by the former Soviet Union. By 1992, the Toyooka park's stork

population had grown to more than 100. The facility began preparing a release

strategy.

 

The five selected birds-two males and three females-have been " training " to fly

and feed on their own since September 2003.

 

The park has a 625-square-meter training cage where the storks practice soaring

on their almost 2-meter-long wingspans, though only as high as the net 5.5

meters above them.

 

Researches have equipped them with a tiny, 80-gram satellite tracking device on

their backs. The cooperation of local citizens is also being solicited to help

monitor the birds' feeding and lifestyle habits.

 

But park officials are aware that living wild will not come easily to the

storks. There is a big difference between birds raised in captivity and their

wild cousins.

 

That difference was illustrated in 2002 when, as if to prove the area's

environment had improved, a wild stork flew in, and has been living nearby ever

since.

 

Affectionately known around here as Hachigoro, the male stork is thought to be

from the continent, and is estimated to be 5 or 6 years old. It lives on its

own, catching fish and frogs and taking leisurely flights around the

neighborhood.

 

" He is indeed a wild one, " Mitsuko Masui, director of the facility, said with

respect.

 

" His chest muscles, important for flight strength, are beautifully developed.

He's also quick in catching his prey. " The storks raised here are no

comparison. "

 

Hachigoro may soon be involved in the release program, too. On Sept. 30, park

officials will try a little matchmaking, by releasing two female birds near his

nest.

 

The same day, another male/female pair will be transferred to an open cage.

Their wings will be clipped, but officials hope their offspring born the next

spring will fly off into the wild.

 

" Our program is one of only very few in the world. So we will try whatever we

can, " said Yoshito Ohsako, a senior researcher.

 

High-voltage power cables in the neighborhood have been marked with conspicuous

rings to alert the birds of the danger of flying into them.

 

Other potential disasters, including traffic accidents, are less preventable.

Officials are braced for the unexpected. They even say that, rather than flying

to China or Russia, the birds might just end up hanging out on secluded park

grounds off-limits to the public, where they can safely feed.

 

Koichi Murata, professor at Nihon University's college of bioresource sciences,

praises the concerted efforts of local officials, researchers and citizens. But

he says more basic research and improvements in breeding skills are needed.

 

" I hope they will continue efforts to restore the environment, prepared for the

fact that it may take 100 years or more for the bird's successful return to the

wild, " he said.

 

The United States has had some success reviving its whooping crane population.

And a breeding program for California condors, which once numbered only 21,

succeeded in increasing the population to 90 by 1992. A total of 125 condors now

live wild, and an additional 151 in zoos.

 

Tokyo's Tama Zoo keeps 57 Oriental white storks, and plans to start a partial

release program in fiscal 2006. As of the end of 2004, there were 200 storks in

23 facilities across Japan.

 

If the Toyooka park's release program is successful, it would be a first for

formerly domestically extinct birds of such large size.

 

Another large bird, the Japanese crested ibis, has been extinct in Japan since

October 2003.

 

An artificial breeding project using birds from China at the Sado Japanese

Crested Ibis Conservation Center has revived the population to 80.

 

The Environment Ministry aims to release 60 ibises into the wild by

2015.(IHT/Asahi: September 21,2005)

 

 

 

 

 

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